Best Use of Colors in Hollywood Movies

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A lot goes into the making of a film. From conceptualization to development to promotion, every stage is important. And when it comes to defining the look and feel of the movie, color schemes do play a major role. If you look at Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movies, you will notice that he puts in a lot of effort to get every visual detail right. And all his movies have a typical vibe and a particular color scheme to represent the story. And that’s what attracts and intrigues people to watch a movie.

In Hollywood, Baz Luhrmann’s movies come to mind when you think about an effective use of colors in movies. Apart from him, there are many Hollywood cinematographers who have shown us how to narrate a story by giving subtle hints to the viewers about the characters and allowing them to have that connection by using the right kind of colors.

We have chosen some famous Hollywood movies that have displayed amazing usage of colors. We will also give you some insights about what kind of color schemes were used in the movies and how that enhanced all the elements. Read on to find out.

The Fall, What Dreams May Come, The Wizard of Oz, Life of Pi, and Moulin Rouge!Hyper colorful films are an example of how to create surreal, visually stunning imagery by making use of a variety of bright colors. This type of color scheme is mainly used to represent emotions, introduce characters, and set the tone of the film. Through these movies, you can see how they have used this concept and have managed to create an impact. With the help of good VFX and CGI effects, some movies have also made it difficult to understand what’s real and animated. But remember, all that wouldn’t have been possible without the right use of colors.Sin City In this film, the directors went with the partial black and white effect that allowed them to highlight certain elements by using saturated and vivid colors. By doing this, the directors were able to break the monotony, narrate the movie without creating a lot of distractions, and draw the audience’s attention to focus on an object. Pretty smart, right?O Brother Where Art Thou? During the post-production stage of this movie, digital color grading method was used to achieve that slightly dusty, sunny look instead of getting a full blown sepia effect. And when you watch the movie, you experience that refined effect.Vertigo, Mad Max: Fury Road, Curse of the Golden Flower, and Amélie In these movies, a complementary color scheme was used. That means that two opposite colors in the color wheel were used to create a contrast to emphasize on the look and feel of the movie. By using contrasting colors, the directors could control the mood of the movie. That helps the viewers to distinguish between an important and a not-so-important scene.The Grand Budapest Hotel and Her Not too colorful and not too dull, but a slightly toned down pastel palette helps create a soothing, fairy tale-like, sometimes even comical effect. By using this color scheme in movies, filmmakers could achieve a retro or a modern look. When you watch these movies, you notice that the feel of these movies is fresh and the whole presentation looks sophisticated.The Matrix; You, The Living; and The Road Muted color palette is popularly used to show post-apocalyptic scenes in movies. For creating that dull, murky effect, filmmakers completely reduce the saturation and stop before the point when the colors turn gray. By playing with these simple colors, directors in these movies have successfully captured the mundane or harsh moments of life and have also shown how relevant the color scheme is in a futuristic setup. Mind boggling, right? So next time when you watch these movies, don’t forget to observe the colors and find a connection.